Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-09-13
HEREDiTY.
ny CHARLOTTE y. HAMMOND, N. d.

ny CHARLOTTE y. HAMMOND, ". u.
Heredity /. that universal law by
which al being. endowed with life tend
10 repeat themselves in their descendants.
|, /, the reproduction Of like by like
wherein the type remains unchanged
amid inces..ni variation. ever ,endias
to copy and repeat itself. To this IN.
varying law We arc Indebted for every
physical and mental CHARACTERISTIC. form.
complexion. .osnd body, or diseased
one. . well balanced mind. or i,s piiiAble
reverse.
ri, i. now generally understood.
writes Tn. Ribo,. ",ha, longevity depends
iai les on race. climate, profession. m ode
Of lie, or food. than on hereditary trans
mission. The hair turns gray. the teeth
fall out because some ancestors did 90.
Physical strength or weakness. grsee.
dex,efi,y. AwkwArdness. clumsinss'. the
gii, OF muse. painting, authorship, ATE
,hing, Of hsrediiy; and 30 all de'is,ion'
from the type. h.relip, squirting. riekeis'
club.foo, and various other deformiiies
ate all irsnsmi.sible.
"In a certain family" ..id DE- Talbot
Of Bo.,on. "the males for ,ii generations
have had Elk toes on one foot. while the
females have had six finger. on each
hand"
Edward Lambert. whose whole body
with the exception Of the face. the palms
Of the hand. and soles Of the feet. was
covered with q sort Of cArapaee Of horny
esere.eenees. which ratified sgsln', each
other. wa, the fs,her Of ak children, all
Of WHOM. from the sge Of ak weeks pre-
.sn,ed the same .ingullri,y. The only
one Of these Who survived transmitted ii
20 al his sors and this transmission go-
ing from male TO male. W. kept up for
five generations"
Anomalies. accidentally acquired. are
tran.mi.ibl,. Thus, man whose right
hand had suffered an injury. had one OF
hi, fnger. badly set. lie had several
sons. each Of whom bad the same hnger
crooked. Artificial dsformi,ie.. too. are
uansmi.ible. Three ,rbes in Peru.-
the Aymaras. the HuAneAs and the Chin
eha.-hAd each their own peculiar mode
Of dsforming the heads Of their children,
and ,hi, d,fofmiiy has since remained.
The E.quimaux Gu, of the tails OF the
dogs they hlrne. TO their sledges aud
their pups are often born tailless."
Mental impressions on the pregnant
female are generally di'credi,ed {. a
cause o. variation in man, but in the
lower animals so many instances can be
Addueed ,ha, !, |, impossible to ignore or
deny IL.
"In lsI9 the whi,ewAshing Of the COW
houses a, si,ty,on. Aberdeen.hire. in.
creased the customary number OF white
calves by twelve times. The same thing
happened TO a short horned herd in York
shire in the same year. A herd OF black
cows. KEEP, for safe preservation OF the
type on an island in Buzzsrd's Bay. had
dun steer introduced among them by
accident. and the next year every calf
was marked with a dun color" Pub
lie Health. Vol Al.
Thi, law Of h-redity was recognized
by the Scripture writers in that terrible
denuncia,ion Of ,in.-"The iniqui,ies Of
the father shall be visited on the children
unto the third and fourth gen,rstion.'
The violations Of the laws OF health
may and do 20 on in an almos, infinite
diversity OF ways aud degrees. orisina-
ting aud eonplica,ing ,ain,s blood aud
defects in organic form aud force and
transmitting them from generation to
generation. Syphilis, serofala. insanity,
mental weakness, brutality, in,emper-
snce. the results Of excess in countless
forms are transmitted to offspring. and
the wonder Is not that mankind are the
most siekly Of creatures. but that life
should exhibi, 30 much persistent tensei-
,y and uniformity amid conditions 30 un-
favorable.
On this question Of hsreiiiy in disease
Oliver Wendell Holmes remarks that
most people think tha, any difficulty OF
= physical nature may be cured II they
bu. see the doctor early enough. "Ye',
be per,inen,ly replies. "bu, early enough
would commonly be two hundred years
in advance"
The laws Of heredi,y are severe. yet
they are just. Vice aud It's result. dis
ease. tend to shorten the existence OF
uansgressor and his descendants. Each
succeeding generation Is weaker and sue
eumbs more readily to disease. till At last
extinction falls on the family.
A child Is rarely born with cancer.
but with q predispOsi,ion to 1t. and u
tends TO develop 1t an earlier age with
succeeding generations. DIR. Bell OF Bos-
ton mentions an instance where the
grandfather died Of cancer ~ eighty years.
the father At sixty. the granddaughter
yet earlier and her daughter At twenty
years.
"Life insurance companies, 10 ealcu-
lating the chances OF risk. pay more at
,ention to family history than to any
other point, = bad one being sufficient To
turn the scale against the very bsss
health the applicant may present.
(Pablic Health.
"Gou, !, beyond doub, transmitted
The painful disease can be induced by
luxurious living in those whose parent
age IL wholly free from II, yet where ens-
such origin sxisn twenty can bs traced
to transmission. Wherever gous y